About Us

 

This is your second most important page (Unless you have a page where you are actually selling things).

 

Your About Us is not about your goods and services. It?s about winning your customers trust. People are nervous online, especially when spending money.

 

Make a good impression with your About Us page. This goes beyond showing that you are credible.

 

Example:

When you step into the waiting room of a doctor or auto mechanic or other service provider, what do you learn about them? How comfortable do they make you feel? Are there comfortable chairs to sit in, paintings on the walls, coffee to drink? Are there signs on the walls that tell you something about them? When people visit the pages of your site about you, what kind of impression do you make of them there?

 
Consider the following approaches

 
Journalistic Approach - This can begin by quite simply answering the questions; who, what, where, why, when, and how. It's suggested that it be fleshed out more to show things like how the business might be socially responsible, what kinds of expertise or experience members of the organization might have, what kinds of awards or acknowledgments the company might have received, and so on.

 

Historical Approach - This method of presentation might best benefit individuals or companies with a long and interesting history of past achievements and changes, rather than a small business that might not have been around too long. It can feature time lines, news and photos from a company archives, and tidbits about the development and release of different products. In many ways, this is a way of "showing" people what a business and the people behind the business have accomplished instead of just telling them about it. This approach can be combined with the journalistic approach, as an added element of providing information about the business.

 

Tour Guide Approach - A more visual way of showing, this approach can include images, photographs, illustrations, and descriptive passages of where a company works, whom they've interacted with, and what kind of work they do. An architecture firm might show photos of buildings taken with their architects, a home builder might show images of homes with the build crew in front of them, a plumber might show off his van, a woodworker his workshop. Designers and developers might show screenshots and case studies of sites they've worked upon. Images can be powerful, and images that reflect a person in his element can be more powerful than a simple headshot.

 

Personal Approach - A business may have started out as a labor of love, a reaction to an event, inspired by a family member or friend or personal hero. In the appropriate settings, letting people know about the motivations and inspirations behind a business may be a beneficial way of letting them learn more about a business that they may build a relationship with, whether as a customer or partner or reporter. Narration and storytelling can be ways of leaving memorable impressions that can be shared by word of mouth.